Sunday Funday: Matt Kemp in Elite Dodgers Territory

Sunday Statistics

We saw a lot of great moments from the world of Major League Baseball on Sunday. With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the numbers that stood out.

Pirates-Reds

The Pittsburgh Pirates won their ninth straight game, defeating the Cincinnati Reds by the score of 9-2. Since the start of the 1997 season, the Pirates have only had one winning streak longer than their one. The 2004 Pirates won ten straight games from June 26-to-July 5.

Corey Dickerson went 4-5 AB with a homer and two RBI in the victory. It marked the fourth straight game in which Dickerson has gone deep. He has ten hits in 21 at-bats—a .476 batting average—with five home runs and seven RBI over this four-game span.

There are only three players in Pirates history to homer in more consecutive games than Dickerson. Dale Long homered in eight straight games in May of 1956. That’s tied with Don Mattingly (July of 1987) and Ken Griffey Jr. (July of 1993) for the MLB record. Jason Bay homered in six straight games in May of 2006. Jose Castillo homered in five straight games also in (ironically) May of 2006.

Matt Harvey took the loss for the Reds for Sunday. He allowed eight earned runs—and four home runs—in three-and-two-thirds innings. Harvey had been 4-0, with a 1.86 ERA in his prior five starts before Sunday. He allowed just six earned runs—and no homers—in 29 innings during that five-start span.

Marlins-Rays

The Rays came back to defeat the Marlins, 6-4. Tampa Bay trailed 4-1 entering the ninth, but closed the deficit to two, following an RBI single by Ji-Man Choi. Later, with two outs in the inning, Daniel Robertson hit a walk-off grand slam to give Tampa the victory.

Sunday marked the 3,337th game in Rays’ franchise history—and the first they won via a walk-off grand slam.

Robertson was also a pinch-hitter. It marked the first pinch-hit, walk-off, grand slam in the majors since Ike Davis hit one for the Mets on April 5, 2014 against J.J. Hoover of the Reds. Robertson also became the first American League player to hit a walk-off grand slam since Terry Crowley of the Orioles hit one against the Royals’ Mike Armstrong on August 8, 1982.

Royals-Twins

The Royals defeated the Twins, 5-3. This was thanks, in large part, to a three-run, inside-the park, home run by catcher Drew Butera in the seventh inning. An inside-the-park homer can be rare enough across the majors—but it’s even more infrequent from the catching position.

This marked just the sixth inside-the-park home run by a catcher in Royals’ history. Prior to Butera, the last Royals’ catcher to hit an inside-the-parker was Brent Mayne on September 27, 1991 against the Angels. Ironically, Mayne hit two inside-the-park homers as a catcher for Kansas City during the 1991 season. He also hit one on August 22 against the Rangers.

Prior to Butera, the last catcher to hit an inside-the-park homer in the majors was Joe Mauer for the Twins on July 21, 2007—just a little more than eleven years to the day!

Dodgers-Brewers

Matt Kemp homered twice in a Dodgers’ 11-2 victory against the Brewers. He now has 276 career home runs—199 coming with Los Angeles. He is one homer away from becoming the seventh player to hit at least 200 home runs with the franchise.

Most Home Runs by a Player

Cardinals-Cubs

Matt Carpenter failed to go deep Sunday, snapping his streak of six consecutive games with a homer. His stretch did tie the franchise record though, set by fabled slugger Mark McGwire. Big Mac homered in six straight games between the 1997 and 1998 seasons for St. Louis.

Since the Fourth of July, Carpenter is batting .392 with 10 home runs and 17 RBI in 15 games.